They're Chips off the old block

ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

Chip Ganassi Racing dominates the Daytona endurance race, winning for the 3rd time in a row.

January 28, 2008|By Tania Ganguli, Sentinel Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- In Victory Lane Scott Pruett bent down to kiss the grimy hood of his Lexus Daytona Prototype covered in rubber, oil, dirt and everything else it had accumulated over the previous 24 hours.

Driving faster and more reliably than any other in the field, Chip Ganassi Racing won its third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona with the No. 01 Telmex Lexus Riley Daytona by a two-lap margin. It was the first time a team has won the overall Rolex 24 in three consecutive years. Drivers Pruett, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Memo Rojas led for the final 101 laps, completing 695 laps and never falling out of the top five after the race's fifth hour.

"We didn't touch anybody, we didn't hit anybody, we can run fast without getting ourselves in trouble," Pruett said.

The win was Pruett's 15th Rolex Series triumph and his eighth Rolex 24 class victory. Montoya, who won the 2007 Rolex with Pruett and Salvador Duran, is now undefeated in his first two Rolex starts, the only driver in Rolex history to do so.

"I was up until 6 o'clock this morning and no one knows the conditions that these guys have to drive in," team owner Chip Ganassi said. "It's wet, it's raining, vision's terrible. Just to keep these cars on the asphalt is a huge task."

The No. 70 Mazda RX-8 was the GT winner, marking the first time since 1993 Porsche has been shut out of Victory Lane at the Rolex 24.

Castroneves started from the 13th position and ran into trouble early, getting a flat tire just 24 minutes in to the race. The team lost one lap.

"This type of race is all about not having trouble," Castroneves said. "As you can see, the winner had no trouble."

As the rainy race progressed, several top cars found trouble and dropped out of contention.

Chip Ganassi's other team, the No. 02 Target Lexus Riley, did not finish, stopping just before 19 hours had passed. By the end of the race, only 39 cars out of 66 that had started were still running.

The No. 01 Lexus' stiffest competition came from the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford, which started from the outside pole. The car led for 118 laps but began smoking heavily at Lap 595 while still on the lead lap.

Burt Frisselle drove the car in for repairs and said a suspension failure caused his exit.

The car lost 44 laps and fell out of podium contention.

That was more good news for the No. 01 Lexus.

Instead of a lead of a few seconds, which Montoya worked to increase during his stint, the team ended the 21st hour with a five-lap lead on the second-place car. The No. 01 had completed 604, while the No. 99 Bob Stallings Pontiac was on Lap 599.

"When the six car broke down . . . we just rolled," Montoya said. "When you have a five-lap lead, what do you do? Make sure you don't touch anything, just roll. I thought it worked pretty well."

But that didn't mean he and the rest of the team relaxed.

"Twenty-five minutes to go and Dario, Chip and myself were in the motor home just waiting," Montoya said. "Just waiting for it to break down."

The trio watched the end of the race standing on top of the pit wall. When Pruett circled the track in front of pit road, the team cheered and clapped from its tent. Ganassi hugged his drivers, delighted with the win and perhaps a little relieved that a breakdown never came.